Thank you for attending this year's Care Transitions and Community-based Care in Palm Beach County

Moving from Understanding to Action

Press Release • Conference Resources • Photos

On Friday, June 19, 2015 Palm Healthcare Foundation hosted a health conference in West Palm Beach that brought together more than 100 industry leaders to discuss community-based care in Palm Beach County.

Palm Beach County is seeing unprecedented numbers of aging adults who are dealing with multiple, chronic health challenges. When individuals leave the hospital and return home, there may not be a caregiver to provide the support the patient needs. This is a rising concern for healthcare professionals, as it affects all segments of the industry. At the same time, changes in health care reform are creating additional issues. The conference united community stakeholders, including hospitals, nursing homes, doctors and nurses, to address these concerns and find solutions.

“Family members who find themselves caring for aging parents or relatives carry an immense emotional and financial burden. We need to strengthen community partnerships and resources to better support the needs of our caregivers and patients in their homes.,The issue is bigger than the family itself and contributes to increased absenteeism and reduced productivity at work, which has major implications for our local business community,” said Andrea Bradley, President and CEO, Palm Healthcare Foundation.

The event’s keynote speaker was Marc J. Dunkelman. He spoke on the changing framework of communities across America, and the disappearance of once-central relationships within a neighborhood that were relied on for support. Dunkelman is a fellow in public policy at Brown University's A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions and author of,The Vanishing Neighbor: the Transformation of American Community. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and many other publications.